14 Things We Learned About Prince Harry In 'Finding Freedom'
Today marks the release of Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family, the long-awaited biography about Britain's most divisive couple. Safe to say, we're all destined for a few weeks of 'lively' debate. In the blue corner, normal people who think that Meghan and Harry simply deserve some peace and privacy. In the red corner, your furious aunt who keeps getting banned from Facebook. Ding ding ding!
Most of the headlines will centre on Meghan, as they often do. That's why we decided to dig into Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand's new book and pluck out some of the most revelatory Prince Harry insights. Check them out below, and order the biography here.
Harry Instagram stalks, just like the rest of us
Naturally both participants in this blind date did their homework with a thorough Google search. Harry, who scoped out Meghan on social media, was interested. A friend had shown him an Instagram photo of Meghan in a slinky silver mini dress at the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards. He liked what he saw but he didn’t necessarily think of drinks as anything more than a chance to be introduced to a woman he found attractive. He certainly could not have foreseen that she would be the woman he would one day marry.
What is Wikipedia if not a dating profile database for famous people? It all sounds a bit stressful. At least Hinge doesn't have a 'controversies' section. The married couple have so far refused to reveal who set them up, but judging by the above information we can only deduce that Harry accidentally liked one of Meghan’s holiday pictures from 2011 and they took it from there.
His private Instagram account, @SpikeyMau5, was an ode to electro
With no face visible in the profile photo, just a mouse-shaped helmet, it would have meant nothing to most people. But it was in fact Harry’s private account. A big house music fan, he crafted the pseudonym by using part of the name of one if his favourite DJs, DeadMau5. On Facebook his profile used to be King Julien, the eccentric lemur from the Dreamworks movie Madagascar.
That DeadMau5 revelation has been doing the rounds for a while now, but the second bit has been criminally underreported. Why Madagascar? A kid's film released when he was 21-years-old, which tells the story of a caged animal who longs for freedom but is held back by his best friend, a charming, rule-following lion who goes by the nickname "The King of New York"? The mind boggles.
Harry doesn’t like wearing a tie
To this day, Harry doesn’t like wearing a tie.
See?
They had their first date at Soho House
Not that anyone would have known.
No front entrance for the pair, they were giving directions for how to get into the building using a discreet door away from prying eyes – and familiar only to staff and delivery trucks bringing in produce and fresh fish from Billingsgate Market […] As patrons of the members-only club like to say, “What goes on at Soho House stays at Soho house.
Incorrect. “What goes on at Soho House is loudly recounted on the Circle line” is probably more apt.
Their third date was a luxury safari in Africa
Which sounds like an captivating whirlwind romance, until you read the sentence:
Meghan immediately impressed Harry with her packing skills.
Does she roll or fold? This is the royal gossip we need to know.
He has a truly confusing approach to texting
His messages were often short and full of emojis, in particular the ghost emoji, which he often uses instead of a smiley face.
u wot m8?
Harry was adamant that Sarah Ferguson attend his wedding
Despite her acrimonious divorce from Prince Andrew, Harry made sure that the former royal was on the guestlist.
It was Harry who later ensured that his aunt Sarah [Ferguson] was invited to the wedding ceremony and first reception – quite the feat considering Prince Philip reportedly once said he never wanted to be in the same room as her again.
Harry is challenging you to a swim. Do you accept?
The book describes Harry's infamous trip to Las Vegas (where he was snapped cupping his family cock and balls in a tabloid scoop) as:
A few alcohol-fuelled days (during which Harry challenged twelve-time Olympic medalist in swimming Ryan Lochte to a race at a pool party.)”
It doesn't reveal whether Lochte took him up on the offer, or whether Harry managed to throw a kettle over a pub in the immediate aftermath, or indeed if that was the real quiz all along.
The Royal Family seemingly do all of their Christmas shopping at Urban Outfitters
According to the book, they follow the German tradition of giving gifts on the 24 December, and don't bother with "lavish" presents.
One year, Harry reportedly gave the Queen a shower cap emblazoned with the phrase ‘Ain’t Life a Bitch’, which she loved.
Did she though?
Another time he gifted his grandmother a Big Mouth Billy Bass singing toy [which] provided the Queen with great laughs. Kate, rumoured to have made her grandmother’s chutney the first year at Sandringham, once gave Harry a 'Grow Your Own Girlfriend' kit [...] Princess Anne bought her brother Prince Charles a white leather toilet seat.
He fell in a bush once
As young royals, nights on the town sans paparazzi were hard to come by, so Harry and his brother would sneak out for drinks at oligarch haunt Mari Vanna, a Russian restaurant about a mile from Buckingham Palace.
One night in 2016, they both got “totally drunk,” according to a source. But it wasn’t until Harry went outside to smoke that there was a problem. “He fell into a little bush. Someone tried to take a photo of him on their phone and Harry’s protection officer literally jumped to block them from taking it,” the source said. “Harry was none the wiser. He just went back in to William, so they could carry on drinking.
William’s trepidation over Meghan angered Harry
Many of Harry's closest friends expressed concern and cynicism about Meghan, including Tom “Skippy” Inskip, but it was reportedly his brother's intervention that hurt the most.
“Don’t feel like you need to rush this,” William told Harry, according to sources. “Take as much time as you need to get to know this girl.” In those last two words, “this girl”, Harry heard the tone of snobbishness that was anathema to his approach to the world […] “Harry was pissed off,” another source said. “Pissed off that his brother would ask such a thing. Some felt it was an overreaction. But then, this totally sums them up as people – William the calm and rational one, and Harry, who can’t help but take things far too personally.”
Harry was anti-ginger in his youth
Charlie van Straubenzee, Harry’s old boarding school friend, gave a speech at their wedding in which he talked about their younger days. It included the revelation that:
Harry often hated other gingers as a kid without recognising that he was part of their tribe.
The Royal Family began to panic about the brothers’ relationship
According to the book, their relationship broke down to the point that “high-ranking aides across all three royal households were […] openly discussing the impact it could have on the monarchy if things weren’t righted.”
“We need to design a system to protect the monarchy full stop,” one [courtier] said. “It’s not secret, the future of this monarchy relies solely on the four people currently in Kensington Palace.”
According to a source:
“Harry was upset that it was playing out so publicly and that so much of the information being reported was wrong […] There had been moments where he felt people working with his brother had put things out there to make William look good, even if it meant throwing Harry under the bus. It was a confusing time, and his head was all over the place – he didn’t know who or what to believe, and he and William weren’t talking enough either, which made everything a lot worse.”
Their offices were eventually separated, meaning both had to compete with each other to get funds for their projects from their father. That relationship is also reportedly complicated, with one source saying that, “neither William nor Harry made much of an effort to make themselves available [for Charles’s seventieth birthday photo session].”
But their relationship is being repaired
After some time, the brothers made a conscious effort to accept each other’s differences.
William was glad to be back on good terms with Harry. One Palace source shared that William told him in late March, “You know what? Me and my brother, for the first time in two months, have had a really lovely conversation together.”
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